Jordan Walden is replacing Fernando Rodney as the closer for the Angels. The Angels decided to drop a guy with two first names for a guy with two last names. Makes sense – you start a game with a guy with two first names, you close a game with a guy with two last names. (No bullpen backup plan for you, Jeff Francis!) (Oh, and don’t forget Charles (Jeff) Nelson Reilly in middle relief.) Walden should be owned in every league that counts things like saves. Seems like a Neftali-type situation. Walden has to lose the job back to Rodney. Fernando can’t win it back by just being good (as remote as that even seems). By June, Walden can be a Donkeycorn and never look back. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Kendrys Morales – Took BP. Where? To court for the oil spill? *rereading news report* Oh! Batting practice. That’s a good sign. If someone lost patience with Kendrys, I’d buy him for sixty cents on the dollar. No more though, he could be a setback away from missing another month.

Hank Conger – Homered in his first start of the season. Here’s what Stephen said about Conger, “He has above average bat speed and contact. His plate-discipline is stellar but his defense is still marginal at best. I don’t see the Angels giving him much of a chance catching.” And that’s me quoting Stephen! Conger’s in a tough spot for playing time; Scioscia loves Mathis like a fat kid loves cake.

Sean Rodriguez – 1-for-3 with his first homer. This comes after Maddon announced Felipe Lopez would see time at 3rd while Longoria’s out. Sean-Rod pissed off the baseball gods in another life because he just can’t get guaranteed playing time no matter where he is. Oh, and on a real baseball note, the Rays don’t look good. That is all.

Madison Bumgarner – 3 IP, 3 ER vs. the Padres. When the only hitter you need to pitch around is Nick Hundley, you kinda should beat the team… Or at least get out of the fourth inning.

Aaron Harang – 6 IP, 1 ER, 8 baserunners, 6 Ks. Before the game, Tony Gwynn announced the arrival of a brand new Hodgepadre. Then Tony ate a hot fudge sundae while watching a videotape of his old at-bats. Pretty unsexy name, but the Harangutan is worth starting at home in every league until he no longer is.

Mike Leake – 6 IP, 2 ER, 5 baserunners, 4 Ks. Before you run out and pick him up, this was against the team Ed Wade’s Toupee put together that is currently 0-4.

Mike Stanton – Pinch hit yesterday, but is supposedly not starting until Friday with his hamstring strain. The real sad emoticon in this whole thing is he had leg issues in the spring so hopefully this won’t be an ongoing issue the whole year.

Gaby Sanchez– 2-for-5, hitting .444 on the year. I wouldn’t defrost Ted Williams head just yet, but he’s hitting well.

Brandon McCarthy – 8 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 2 Ks vs. the 1927 Blue Jays. What I’m thinking with McCarthy is Beane, as played by Brad Pitt, hasn’t had much luck in the last few years, so McCarthy is gonna pan out. I think that’s confirmation bias, but I don’t feel like going to Wikipedia to look it up. Either way, that’s a marginal ‘keep your eye on him, but don’t pick him up yet.’ (Sorry, you now have to read the rest of this with one eye.)

Conor Jackson – 2-for-4 as he hit 3rd. He’s like totally recovered from Valley Fever, as if. BTW, he’s a backup outfielder as of right now. Yes, a team is very good when they have a backup outfielder batting third. /sarcasm

Brian Fuentes – Out with a blister. The A’s manager hopes Fuentes can go Wednesday. Fantasy managers that own Fuentes aren’t sure what to hope for.

Alex Gordon – 3-for-5 with his first homer (in possibly 4 years, or maybe it just feels that way). After he hit the home run, fireworks went off… In my heart. He’s batting third and hitting; ask questions later, just pick him up.

Alcides Escobar – 1-for-5. Whoopie-doo, I know. But he stole his 2nd base. Last year, it took him until May 29th to steal his 2nd base. Oh, it’s on.

Yovani Gallardo – 9 IP, 0 ER, 4 baserunners, 2 Ks. Rudy picked him to win the Cy Young. In the preseason, I ranked him 10th overall for all starters. If you’re reading this, you probably own him. Yay us!

Carlos Gomez – Benched for Nyjer. And that’s how quickly a major league manager can realize a player sucks at baseball. Oh, well.

James McDonald – 4 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 8 baserunners, 4 Ks. I gotta be honest, my heart wasn’t fully into this guy as a potential late round bargain. Pirates pitchers are arghuably the worst in baseball from 1 through 5. In most competitive leagues, I’d hold McDonald for another start, but start making other plans.

Cole Hamels – 2 2/3 IP, 6 ER, 9 baserunners, 3 Ks. Drop him! I keed. He had a 5.28 ERA last April and still ended the year with a 3.06. As they say in Vegas about the shoe, you gotta deal with it.

Chris Young – 5 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 9 baserunners, 7 Ks. Was so cute the way the giraffes at the Bronx Zoo all gathered around the TV to watch this start. I liked Young when he pitched for the Padres, and Metco isn’t that bad, but his fastball has been trending down for four years and he works up in the zone. 9 baserunners in 5 and a third like yesterday isn’t great. You can pick him up, I wouldn’t. I.e., You do what you do and I’ll do what I do and we’ll be fine.

Juan Miranda – 1-for-3. Kirk Gibson announced Miranda would get the majority of the starts to see what they have in him. Finally, a manager that makes a smart decision. Miranda’s worth a flyer in leagues 14+ to see if he can not only stick but make good on some of his promise.

Justin Upton – 1-for-4, I wish Justin and B.J. had a brother named Wes. Wesssssupppppton!

Mark Teixeira – His fourth homer. He attributed his newfound early season success to not sleeping since last October. This message was sponsored by Red Bull.

Alexi Ogando – 6 IP, 0 ER, 4 baserunners, 4 Ks. A… O… A’ight! He left with a blister. Probably because he was throwing heat. He won’t be in the rotation for long, but you have my permission to grab him while he is.

Aaron Hill – 1-for-4, 2 RBIs. I think I heard mumblings in the forums or the comments or somewhere that Aaron Hill is already a bust. Um, they’ve only played four games and he’s hitting cleanup for the 1927 Blue Jays. Chillax.

Jose Bautista – Out because of a personal matter. I’m guessing he’s in Russia killing people for Ben.

The Angels decided to drop a guy with two first names for a guy with two last names.

Grey: My 14-team league counts both holds and saves equally and I find myself heavy on the saves guys (in fact, when there’s a full slate I need to bench one RP because I don’t have space). For holds I have Gregerson and my closers are Valaverde, F-Rod, Contreras, Putz, and now Walden (I had Walden for holds). I’m thinking I should probably trade away two closers and pick up someone for holds. Which are the RPs you think I should shop around (combination of the best market value and lowest real value)?

i don’t think it is too little to give up because he has beltre and moustakas ( royals fan so he may keep him ) already and not much SP — my current 3B is cuddyer who would become my util/ supersub so its an obvious upgrade at that spot for me and i don’t really want to keep two or three SPs anyway…

Finally, the Gordon haS COME BACK…to being rosterable. I’m excited about Alex – His swinging smoothly at pitches. Just what he worked on. Looking like a mini-Josh-Hamilton out there. Pick him up! If he gets krazy hot – trade him to a sucker. If hes a solid 4/5 hr a month guy. Boy you got your fantasy game changer!

dropping Rodney (picked up Walden) for a flier on either J. Francis or J. Hammel. Not too deep a bench, so I gotta grab a upside starter while the gettin’s good. Premature to drop Rodney for Hammel/Francis? Which one?

@Rick Dempsey: I think Lopez can go 18/10 with a decent average. That plays nice at MI.
@Atherton32: Bloomquist is terrible. There has to be a better option. Make sure Alex Gordon isn’t still available.
@theevilempire: I like Smoak. Gotta love his K/BB ratio.
@kangaroo hops: I don’t view Hammel or Francis as upside starters, but you should definitely drop Rodney. The odds seem slim that he regains the closer role.

@Ozzie: he’s 25? and any good sabermatician knows that haren’s peripherals stayed strong in the 2nd halves all those years and in some cases improved, and that last year the luck reversed halves, but things like babip would just skyrocket for no good explainable reason.

@Wilsonian: in fact, i think i’d just take my chances grabbing uehara or someone (maybe walden is still available??) and waiting for gregg to suck. over the next month several guys on the wire in most leagues are gonna fall into save situations. i grabbed walden yesterday in 1 league before he was named the closer and got the save, in another league i put in a claim for him before he was named the closer and now i’m sweating whether i’ll land him when the claim goes through tomorrow morning.

Lost jokes are so two years ago, when there were people who actually thought the ending might somehow be good, or make something that resembled….what’s that stuff again? Oh right, sense.

JK, I laughed at that and my initial reaction was to post something like “your’e on fire today Grey!” but then decided I couldn’t pass an opportunity to Razz the great Razzer.

I nabbed Walden in a bunch of leagues, mostly a few nights ago. I almost picked up Downs and Takahashi in one league where I really needed another closer, but Pshocia saved me the trouble. I was also on the Gordon bandwagon already, but I added him in just about all my other leagues last night too, though I was on the fence about dropping Dexter Fowler for him in one or two (I had lots of speed in one so it wasn’t so tough, but the other I have Zimmerman and Alvarez already so I’m having second thoughts, but the trade value prospects of a quality 3B persuaded me).

Gallardo: Where are all your strike outs I was promised? Do I already have 70K this week? Yes (Thank you Kershaw). Do I have 19 more than my opponent and 18 more than any other team? Yes (See last parenthesis statement). Do I still have 7 more starts left this week and will already clear 100k? Yes (there is no C). But you are taking the slowest path to 200k in one season… 1.8k/9 is only like 1000 IP. Not bad for one year.

I’m in a shallow 10 team league. I own Zobrist but for some stupid reason Kendrick is still on the wire. I went to the Rays/Angels game last night and Grey’s damn right…..the Rays don’t look good. No life, dead bats, etc. I don’t want to jump off my drafted team too fast but wonder if Kendrick was the pick all along. Zobrist or Howie the rest of the year?

for those wondering about yovani’s Ks, i think they come around. maybe not 200+, but at least in the 180 range. seems like maybe he’s pitching contact a little more and trying to go deep in games instead of trying to K everyone. what did he throw last night? 111 pitches? i remember when yovani would throw 111 pitches in 5 2/3, get you 7 Ks, but also walk 4 guys and give you a decent era but a bit of a whipping.

Grey,
I was slow to the trigger and lost out on grabbing Walden yesterday. Now, I still have Rodney…there are some other RP out there…should I drop Rodney for any of these guys? If so, which one should I get 1st (I am thinking Burnett in Wash), but need advice.
Burnett (Wash), Rauch (Tor), Uehara (Balt), Peralta (TB), Lopez (Hou).
Thanks in advance!
ALso – is there any chance Rodney gets the closer roll back?

Donkey needs his appendix out too!? I think he and Holliday must be working out way harder than those guys who just suffer intercoastal-obliquatta’s, so much so that they appendix’s (or is that appendixi?) burst!

I have so much sadness that I kept Hamels over Yo-Ga right night. Tell me Hamels will be alright. Oh, you did. Thanks.

Where’s the LoMo love? Hit his second HR of the year yesterday after hitting only in 287 PA in 2010. Kids’ got Marlin blood in his veins I tell ya!

I just dropped Kurt Suzuki for Ianetta in a 6×6 with OPS. My logic was that Ianetta homers and walks enough to have a good OPS despite the BA. Plus, I hate Suzuki. Reasonable decision or a case of ADD?

So, a sinker that managed 10 groundouts, a slider, and a curve that has more break than Gio Gonzalez’s or Zito’s. It is pretty impressive, and although he might not be a high K pitcher because of the sinker, he could be worthwhile if he puts up another good start.

Travis Hafner.
It looks like he might be back to his old business, 4 game hitting streak, 1 HR, .375 Anyone care to pontificate on his abilities this year? Grey, it’s early, but based on what we’re seeing would you consider stashing him in a mixed league 12 team, standard roto?

@ThePoonTycoon: yeah, I think I’ve decided not to snag the Ax Man. I actually just missed out on Walden in one league, and got him in another. I have a serious issue with my closers in a league. We count Ks/9 and they all (seemingly) suck at that, nor do they actually get saves (I have Soria, K-Rod, Lyon, Contreras), so I’m trying to get a closer that actually closes games. I’ve tried a couple deals for Kimbrel, but to no avail. I kind of want to make an offer to the guy with Walden, but it’s the same guy as the one with Kimbrel, so I’m sure he’s annoyed by me already.

Re: Fuentes and the rest of the A’s pen…won’t you come home ‘drew Bailey…Andrew Bailey won’t you please come hoooooooome.

Re: Aaron Hill…the Blue Jays radio play by play guy, who is just swell by the way, says that John Farrell says that Aaron Hill is going to steal a whole lotta bases this year. That’d be neat.

Re: SROD…Joe Maddon is fanatically addicted to the notion that he can’t hit right handed pitching. He feels the same way about Matt Joyce only in reverse hand. Apparently there is no talking Joe out of this. Rays do stink. Except I heard Bossman Junior spent all season with Rod Carew. That was probably smart.

@Wilsonian: ha, sit tight on your closers for now. the saves will come. soria and k-rod will be soria and k-rod. contreras should be a fine option until lidge is back (assuming lidge comes back and stays back and doesn’t suck though the phils have shown they’ll trot him out there over and over when he does suck). lyon is prety damn mediocre, and probably will lose his job at some point. just monitor the situation and don’t be scared to grab the next in line when you see the writing on the wall.

No, I’m not dropping Napoli – he’s being Ron Popeil-ed – however, I’m getting a little annoyed already with Ron Washington thinking he’s a friggin’ Scosciapath because Nap is sitting AGAIN today. Does he think they’ve already filled their April homerun quota, or what? That is all I have to say about that.

@ThePoonTycoon: that’s part of the problem, I don’t see a future with these bums (besides Soria and K-Rod). I guess (said in my whiniest 8 year old voice) I’ll just stick with them until one of them vomits all over themselves and loses the gig.

Morning Grey —
Quick question….drop Rodney for A. Gordon or Uncle Miltie, or perhaps Bard? I’m not carrying an extra hitter at this point (Vladdy’s in my U spot) and already rostering Nunez, Burnett, Rauch and Saito. If I make this move I can also snatch Downs off the DL as a continued play on the Scosciapath’s unsettled bullpen sitch.
Thanks.

@Eddy: it would be nice for the rays to get in a save situation so we could start getting a better handle on the shituation huh? looks like farnsworth will get the calls initially, but if he falters and mcgee is pitching well, i’d anticipate mcgee being next in line.

Yea, I’m dropping Desmond. I can’t continue to have him killing my OBP and he’s a mere filler until Drew’s vagina heals. Him dropping to the 7th spot also kills his value. I can see Escobar tying well into my team as I own both Bautista and Lind so a good Jays day is a good day for me most likely.

Morning all! I am in a points league (with 2 DL spots – using 1 right now w/ Johan Santana)…anyways, being that it’s a points only league, having a guy on DL hurts a lot. Is it worth it to try to trade for Longoria (who might be out for another 3-4 weeks?
I am thinking of offering Joe Mauer for Longoria? (again this is points league)…should I do this ?

Finally convinced my fellow owner/manager to ditch Lackey, picked up Harang instead (deep league too, was surprised to see harang on waivers). Please tell me this was a decent move, if it doesn’t work out I’ll never hear the end of it. Lackey looked like absolute dog poo in Texas, though a lot of starters are going to look like poo in Arlington.

Also, I have an abundance of OF, including Manny, I’m generally pretty patient, but he, and the Rays, look terrible. Should I give him some more time or try and sell him while his name still carries some value?

@Grey: 12 team, 5 x 5 roto, who do you like most of these WW gems for season upside? chris young (mets), zach britton, chris tillman, alexi ogando, mike minor, aaron harang, brett cecil or chris narveson? i know ill probably be dropping whoever i pick up next week.

@Grey: Balfour is the next reliever to pick up for saves after what happened last night?

I should have said that farnsworth and joel peralta are available in my league, and fuentes was just dropped. Any of those guys more worth a shot considering how bad fuentes looked and how bad the rays look without longoria?

@Alcesto: im starting voltron even after his first game debacle, of course im shalacked in pitching this week in my H2H league so Im just trying to salvage a few points and hoping for a total 180 from last wk!

Hey Grey,
Glad you keep rollin out the updates. Trade question here in a standard 12 Team H2H, would you give Nellie Cruz and the G-Man for Hanley? I would still have an OF of Bruce, Rasmus, Tabata, and Felix would anchor the staff. Thanks!

Too much for Gayrod? I’d be receiving him. I have wright so I dont need a 3B, but we play 3 UTL slots so It would be a good offensive upgrade. I could do without Hanson, i’d still have Lester and Liriano plus some other decent fliers to roll out each week in a H2H league that only needs 32 innings MIN thrown per week. Thoughts?

@ThePoonTycoon: yeah, that’s one of the things I don’t like about Walden. While he could be a monster, he’s also got 3 other guys that could close (4 if you count Rodney) in the ‘pen and Scoscia is a nut and could possibly carousel those guys all year.

Grey: a Jeter owner in my league is freaking out. I have Castro. If I trade him castro for jeter I can definitely expand the trade to get a significant advantage in the rest of the deal. For the rest of the season, would you rather have Jeter or Castro in a 5×5 h2h league? if castro, is it close?

I’m not selling stock yet on McDonald. Pirates aren’t as bad as everyone thinks – plus I think it might be first start of the season jitters. I’m holding him a little bit longer in my 10-team H2H league.

I think its too much as well. Gallardo is a 200 strikeout pitcher, Cruz could easily finish with better numbers than Hanley this season (if healthy) especially with HRs being as/if not more scarce than SBs this year.

@Grey: in a keeper league H2H 7×7, guy put heyward on the block, wants ace in return, says hes treating heyward as low 20s ranking, which is legit, im thinking i offer halladay and either prado or weeks for his heyward and either jared weaver or verlander, and may include his 9th round (1st after keepers) for my 11th (3rd), decent deal?

@Grey: thanks,still havent read your book,wating on vol. 2,the mid life years then vol. 3,the married years ha,as i mentioned,snapped my fibula after our auction draft with steve and hippo,details arent real clear,but ill be laid up till july,you,ll be my savior,thanks for all and drink 1 on me

@Grey: In my H2H league I drafted Raburn cause he had 2b eligibility and I drafted Sean-Rod as his backup. Am I going to be held hostage all year by their managers who refuse to give these guys everyday at bats?

@AL KOHOLIC: yeah, I’m kind of agreeing with you. But at the same time, Chuck Manuel likes to stick to his guys (See: Lidge, Brad) regardless of how bad they suck, so I can see him sticking with Jose simply because he likes the Cuddle Boy in the 8th inning.

@artie: makes me feel like a God that I dealt him and Beachy for Snider and J-Zimm. While I didn’t like to deal Beachy, I was trying to deal Howie instead of Raburn, but he wouldn’t bite. Now I feel pretty good about keeping Howie and losing Raburn.

@Grey and Razzballers, guy in my 16 team H2H points league is 1 pitcher shy of a full staff (thanks to Ubaldo), so I’m swooping in like a vulture to rid myself of unnecessary parts for a commodity he has in Nelson Cruz. My dilema is I have Lackey, Beckett, AND Burnett. I know, I know. Which one of these guys should I be trying to get rid of the MOST? Whoever it is will be packaged with a replacement OF and a bench pitcher.

@Pooch: Ah! Gotcha. Well, I still feel like the logjam could roll over him at any point, so I’m cutting bait. I love Raburn’s upside, and he’s 2B-eligible in my 14-team league, but Hill seems like a better bet since he’s done it before.

I love/hate when a simple throw away like “arghuably” makes me giggle way longer than it should. Nice LOST reference, too.

So I already had Greinke in my DL slot with Cueto and Peavy on my bench… and now Ubaldo? C’mon man!

I’m not looking for advice… I know it’s only a week into the season and I need to just relax. However, venting on this little comment thing is part of my relaxation technique. That, and “serenity now.” Deal with it.

@Grey….Is it too early to be concerned about Phil Hughes lack of velocity? How do you feel about the guy? He was drafted as my #3 P, just wondering if you are of the belief that the speed will come around….

Mcdonald is hurt and he looked good for someone that’s going to take a few starts to get back to where the Pirates want him. I’d say he’s going to need another start or two until we know where his starting point is for the 2011 season. Charlie Morton looks like he’s going to have a nice 2011.

I’m game for any trade to take advantage of my depth at 1B and OF(1B slot, UT slot, 3 OF slots)

Royals bullpen is looking outstanding so far this year(20 IP, 1.35 ERA, 6 scoreless innings last night leading to Melky’s game winning hit[/John Sterling]), Aaron Crow is going to be a sick MR this year, and Tim Collins looks to be up there as well.

@Grey: Oh, em, gee… I have been dying for that bomb to drop since Ep. 1. Now that he’s fallen into the RW Relationship Zone, it’s going to be exponentially sweeter. What’s the over/under on how many more episodes crazy drunken bottle breaker has left before he’s sent home?

Finally got a counter-proposal from the guy who has A-Gon, amongst others, on the trade block. He has rejected two potential trade offers from me so far and refused to offer a counter or email me back with what/who he wants. His roster is stacked so it’s been impossible to find a weakness where he would obviously look to address. But he just now sent his proposal:

Mauer and Oswalt for A-Gon.

I want A-Gon a lot. There’s no question how valuable he is, but doesn’t this sound like a bit much to give up? Do you think A-Gon is worth it? I could use his production, but…

@Pooch: that was my only saving grace that my opponent had Thornton. He already has Putz and Hanrahanrahanrahan. My pitching staff which is made up of “monsters” sure sucks donkey balls right now. I didn’t like Bills when I picked him and still don’t. I was just hoping this was his BIG year…and looks like it will be…when you’re talking about a big, inflated ERA!

I picked up Freddie Freeman at the start hoping to catch fire off all the early offseason buzz. And I know it’s early, but do you think he is worth holding on to or is he worth dropping to pick up someone producing right now like Posada, LoMo, Willingham, Byrd, F. Sanchez, Loney, Hannahan…?

You think Freeman is going to bust out this season and is a keeper, or do you think he is going to struggle more often than not?

grey—i finally dumped latos. i got hamels for him. the only catch is latos has a round of 10 on him for next year. i have a bunch of keepers anyway so i don’t really care about the keepability. i was trying to get 60 cents on the dollar for him but i think i lucked out. you guys like this for me???

Don’t look now, but Minor is imploding for the braves in the bottom of the 1st in Milwaukee. Walked the 1st 3 batters (only 1 strike thrown) then gave up a 2RBI single to Fielder. Still hasn’t recorded an out. Needless to say, it looks like the braves made the right call when they decided to give Beachy the 5th spot.

I needed to get the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks out of my NL-only 5×5 roto $260 keeper league. Too many whiners and wow, teams colluding, which explains why one team has all the best minor league players and his best friend has all the best major league players. But now I need a league. If anyone has any openings, please contact me, I’m jonesing already. Prefer keeper leagues with similar formats and yes, I know it’s late, but maybe there is a league where someone needs to drop or end up in divorce court.

This seems like a no brainer but my pitching staff without Liriano is kinda weak for a 12 team league: Hamels, Chacin, Edwin Jackson, Beachy and De La Rosa. I already have Fielder so Youk would be in one of my two utility spots. I could flip Youk to the guy with Kendry though.

@Grey: 12 team H2H dynasty points league. Recv’d trade offer of Bumgarner & Chapman for my Alex Gordon. Seems like a no-brainer, but would appreciate your thoughts. Gordon is my starting Utility (I’ve got Snider & D. Young on the bench), but I’m stacked at SP so Bumgarner will only see action on 2 start weeks and Chapman has no value in this format. Thanks!

Got to love the guy on the mound for Houston now, where did he come from? F. Abad is his name in the box. Could have worked that into a team name somewhere, lol. Hell, I’ve been saying F-ing A Bad since the Volcanoquez started erupting again.

Someone in my league waived Granderson. I’m pretty low on the waiver list so I doubt I’ll be able to get him. I already put in a claim for him and to drop Belt. I’m considering canceling and changing it to drop Morse instead. Claim is for tomorrow so I gotta make a decision in the next couple of hours. Thoughts?